298 
JOURNAL  OR  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
September  23,  1897. 
Foliage  Vines. 
Of  these  several  attracted  attention,  but  the  most  striking  were  two 
plants  of  Japanese  varieties,  Yitis  Coignettiae,  having  large  roundish 
leaves,  and  V.  tlexuosa,  having  IMulberry-like  foliage.  These  had  made 
•strong  growths,  reaching  18  feet  in  height,  and  later,  when  the  foliage 
assumes  a  blood  red  hue,  will  be  most  brilliant  objects.  As  these  Vines 
had  been  planted  about  two  years  their  capacity  to  furnish  cover  for  walls 
or  decaying  trees  was  evidenced.  Clematis  odorata,  sweet  scented, 
flowers  dark  blue,  having  prominent  centres  of  white  anthers,  was 
■exceedingly  pretty  when  in  full  bloom.  Such  a  nursery  as  that  of 
Coombe  Wood,  with  all  its  wealth  of  new  and  rare  trees  and  shrubs, 
presents  to  gardeners  so  much  that  is  novel  that  a  visit  becomes  almost 
entrancing. —A.  Kingston. 
THE  POTATO  CROP. 
I  HEAR  many  accounts  of  the  Potato  crop  this  season,  more  especially 
from  the  farmers,  who  say  that  the  crop  is  not  more  than  half  the  weight 
of  last  year,  and  already  disease  is  beginning  to  make  rapid  inroads  into 
some  varieties.  Speaking  to  one  who  grows  some  hundreds  of  tons  to  sell 
in  the  Liveriiool  markets,  I  was  informed  that  coloured  Potatoes  by  no 
means  find  a  ready  sale,  and  that  he  had  almost  ceased  to  grow  them,  the 
prejudice  being  that  they  were  all  considered  of  a  washy  nature.  Asking 
how  the  round  varieties  went,  I  was  also  told  that  these  were  not  nearly 
so  much  in  demand,  those  preferable  being  the  long  kidney  shape,  as 
^Maincrop  and  Magnum  Bonum.  This  leads  me  on  to  give  you  a  short 
note  of  Potatoes  in  our  garden. 
The  early  varieties  were  not  an  abundant  crop,  owing  to  the  cutting 
winds  and  keen  frosts  in  Ivlay,  but  the  best  certainly  was  Harbinger,  one 
of  the  finest  early  rounds  ready  at  the  same  time  as  the  early  kidneys. 
It  is  short  in  the  top,  a  fine  cropper,  and  boils  like  hour.  Early  Puritan 
was  good  in  every  respect.  Her  Majesty  and  Ne  Plus  Ultra,  tried 
for  the  first  time,  are  good.  They  were  not  in  the  best  position,  con¬ 
sequently  I  had  not  an  opportunity  of  fully  testing  them,  but  their  cooking 
qualities  are  all  right,  and  they  are  free  from  disease.  Up  to  Date  is  more 
after  the  style  of  Paterson’s  Victoria,  a  grand  crop  of  clean  tubers,  and 
fully  meriting  the  name  given. 
The  finest  of  all  in  the  garden  has  been  the  splendid  new  one  named 
Reliance.  If  one  must  judge  by  the  extra  good  results  we  have  had  from 
it  we  may  expect  it  to  be  a  beat  on  the  good  old  Magnum,  for  a  heavier 
crop  I  never  saw.  It  possesses  a  sound  constitution,  is  one  of  the  best 
shaped  kidneys  for  exhibition,  having  scarcely  any  eye,  no  trace  of  disease, 
and  for  table  Al.  No  praise  can  over-estimate  its  good  qiialities.  There 
seems  to  be  a  great  deterioration  in  the  useful  IMaincrop,  the  crop  being 
poor  on  every  hand,  farm  and  garden  alike,  as  far  as  I  can  learn,  but  I  do 
not  know  if  this  is  so  in  all  parts  of  the  country.  Reading  Russet  and 
Flourball  are  two  of  the  best  coloured  rounds  that  we  have,  the  latter 
being  a  splendid  keeper  and  a  capital  table  variety. — R.  P.  R.,  Liverpool. 
HIXTS  OX  POTTIXCI. 
Of  all  the  numerous  operations  which  come  within  the  range  of  the 
gardener’s  art,  that  of  potting  and  shifting  tender  plants  from  one  pot  to 
another  must  be  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  important.  A  volume 
could  be  written  on  it  without  exhausting  its  details  or  exaggerating  its 
importance  in  its  relation  to  the  numerous  varieties  of  plants  and  fruits 
now  cialtivated  in  pots.  If  in  anything  in  gardening  “  practice  combined 
with  intelligence  ”  be  not  necessary,  certainly  it  is  not  in  potting.  By 
))Otting  I  do  not  merely  mean  the  mechanical  operation  of  surrounding 
the  roots  of  a  ])lant  in  a  pot  with  soil.  A  mere  machine  might  possibly 
be  invented  to  do  that. 
Not  only  does  every  family  and  genus  of  plants  need  different 
treatment  in  this  respect,  but  each  species  and  variety  requires  to  be 
studied,  and  the  jmtting  adjusted  to  its  peculiarities  of  constitution  and 
growth.  The  intelligent  observation  and  sound  reasoning  of  the  cultivator 
must  be  carefully  exercised  in  the  performance  of  this  im])ortant  opera¬ 
tion,  or  high  cultivation  need  not  be  looked  for  as  a  rule.  And  very 
much  as  has  the  progress  of  horticulture  de])ended  on  the  observation  or 
notice-taking  of  practical  men,  I  question  if  from  any  other  source  improved 
practice  in  cultivation  has  resulted  so  much  as  it  has  from  the  observations 
and  deductions  of  ])ractitioners  at  the  potting-bench.  However  the  fact 
can  be  accounted  for,  it  has  come  within  my  knowledge  that  men  who 
could  discourse  eloquently  on  the  science  of  horticulture,  and  profess  to 
teach  the  sound  principles  of  all  its  branches,  make  a  most  complete 
bungle  of  potting  or  shifting  a  plant,  and  succeed  chiefly  in  violating 
every  principle  on  which  the  health  of  their  subjects  depends.  In  very 
many  instances  the  practitioner  has  had  to  navigate  his  way  to  success 
with  next  to  no  extraneous  aid,  and  this  forcibly  applies  to  the  potting  of 
plants. 
In  most  instances  pots  are  a  necessary  evil.  This  being  the  case,  it  is 
of  paramount  importance  to  mitigate  the  evil  as  much  as  possible.  By 
way  of  throwing  out  a  few  hints  calculated  to  be  useful  to  beginners  at 
the  potting-bench— among  whom  I  would  include  our  scientific  friends 
who  may  try  their  amateur  hands  at  this  operation,  by  way  of  relaxation 
perhaps  —I  would  remark  that  the  first  thing  to  be  considered  in  potting 
a  plant  to  be  placed  in  a  glass  house  is  that  in  nearly  every  respect  it  is 
being  placed  under  _  circumstances  that  are  thoroughly  artificial.  The 
space  for  its  roots  is  unnaturally  restricted,  and  contains,  comparatively 
speaking,  but  a  few  handfuls  of  soil,  which,  along  with  the  roots,  is  ex¬ 
posed  to  the  drying  influence  of  air,  not  only  on  the  surface,  but  ’at  the 
bottom  and  sides  of  the  ball  as  well.  This  exposes  the  plant  to  be 
constantly  and  rapidly  robbed  of  the  moisture  necessar}^  to  its  existence, 
and  much  of  the  food  supplied  to  it  within  the  compass  of  its  pot.  This 
unnatural  loss  has  as  constantly  to  be  made  good  by  large  sujiplies  of 
water  artificially  supplied  to  soil  in  the  very  artificial  position  of  being  in 
a  pot.  This  state  of  things  has  a  constant  tendency  to  call  into  play  a 
host  of  other  evils  which  have  to  be  carefully  obviated  in  the  choice  of 
materials  for,  and  in  the  operation  of,  potting.  It  being  necessary  to 
administer  cojiious  supplies  of  water  almost  daily,  and  sometimes  oftener 
than  once  a  day,  the  two  most  jirominent  and  destructive  conditions 
incident  to  such  a  necessity  ai-e  those  of  stagnant  water  and  the  rapid 
decomposition  of  the  organic  substances  in  the  potting  material.  To 
some  extent  these  evils  are  dependent  on  each  other,  and  are  nearly 
always  in  existence  at  the  same  time. 
Perhaps  the  draining  or  crocking  of  pots  may  at  this  era  of  horti¬ 
culture  be  considered  too  common  or  too  trifling  a  subject  to  dilate  on 
with  profit  to  readers.  Good  cultivators  do  not  regard  any  point  as 
trifling,  and  I  am  content  to  submit  my  verdict  to  the  ipost  successful 
growers  when  I  say  that  the  draining  lies  at  the  foundation  of  successful 
pot-plant  culture,  and  that  it  is  one  which,  if  not  properly  performed  and 
adjusted  to  the  nature  of  individual  plants,  will  thwart  the  most  careful 
and  correct  attention  to  all  the  other  j)oints  of  culture.  Not  only  so,  but 
I  am  convinced  that  the  carelessness  and  unbusinesslike  way  in  which  it 
is  performed  in  many  instances  warrants  that  its  importance  should 
be  made  very  prominent  ;  and  in  a  long  and  extensive  practice  I  am  now 
more  convinced  than  ever  that  more  ill-health  and  disease  and  death  are 
caused  by  inefficient  drainage  of  pots  than  by  any  other  cause,  or  perhaps 
all  causes  put  together. 
It  IS  not  only  not  so  much  on  the  quantity  of  crocks  put  into  a  pot,  as 
on  their  proper  adjustment,  that  success  in  carrying  off  all  superfluous 
water  from  the  soil  in  a  pot  depends.  A  pot  half  full  of  crocks  may  not 
be  so  well  drained  as  another  may  be  with  only  an  inch.  In  all  well- 
ordered  gardens  where  pot  plants  are  grown  there  should  be  three  or  four 
diflerent  sizes  of  crocks,  sizes  that  may  be  termed  for  ordinary  purposes, 
inch,  half  inch,  and  quarter-inch  crocks,  which,  in  breaking  up  a 
mass  of  crocks,  can  be  easily  assorted  by  using  sieves  of  different  sizes. 
These  must  be  as  clean  as  the  pots  themselves,  and  all  dust  should  be 
separated  from  them.  Speaking  generally  the  largest  of  them  should 
form  three-fourths  of  the  drainage  of  large  pots,  and  the  other  fourth, 
consisting  of  the  second  size,  should  be  blended  with  the  smaller,  and  over 
all  a  little  dry  moss,  or  a  portion  of  the  most  flbry  of  the  soil,  should  be 
placed.  In  a  moist  stove  where  plants  have  to  be  heavily  syringed,  or  in 
the  case  of  delicate  hardwooded  plants,  a  14  or  16-inch  pot  should 
never  have  less  than  3  or  4  inches  of  drainage  thus  arranged  ;  while  in 
the  case  of  special  and  shallow-rooting  plants  it  should  be  double  this 
amount,  or  even  more,  just  as  the  tendency  of  the  plant  is  found  to  be 
surface-rooting.  An  1 1-inch  or  an  8-inch  pot  will  be  sufficiently  drained 
with  a  lesser  depth  of  crocks  in  proportion  to  its  size  ;  2  inches  and  1  \  being 
generally  sufficient,  but  always  arranged  with  the  same  scrupulous  care. 
This  rule  applies  with  augmented  force  to  all  plants  that  are  [dunged,  such 
as  Pines,  and  to  plants  of  delicate  constitution,  whether  they  be  soft  or 
hardwooded.  The  concave  side  of  the  crock  or  piece  of  broken  pot  should 
be  placed  undermost  in  placing  it  over  the  holes  in  the  bottom  of  the  pots, 
for,  if  placed  .the  other  way,  it  often  fits  too  closely  to  the  pots  to  admit 
of  the  ready  passage  of  the  superfluous  water.  Thus  arranged,  the  soil 
used  in  [totting  does  not  get  down  amongst  the  crocks  and  [wevent  their 
serving  their  intended  end. 
If  anyone  wants  to  prove— who  has  not  done  so  already  — that  this  is  a 
trifling  part  of  plant  culture,  let  him  take  two  Heaths,  Azaleas,  Camellias, 
or  even  a  Pine  plant,  or  a  Pelargonium,  and  drain  the  pot  for  one  of  them 
as  above  described,  and  the  pot  for  its  fellow  by  carelessly— a  by  no  means 
uncommon  practice  -putting  into  the  bottom  of  the  pot  a  few  large  and 
ungainly  pieces  of  dirty  pot  or  brick,  and  sirbject  the  plants  to  the  same 
treatment  otherwise,  and  they  will  be  witness  to  results  so  diverse  that  the 
matter  will  soon  come  to  be  regarded  as  of  paramount  importance,  and 
they  will  not  consider  that  I  have  insisted  on  the  strict  observance  of  a 
trifling  point  of  culture.  I  might  almost  say  that  what  the  foundation  is 
to  the  structure,  the  proper  draining  is  to  the  successful  growth  of  [dants 
in  pots. 
Only  the  other  day  I  was  engaged  in  shifting  some  Azaleas  which  had 
their  pots  properly  drained  two  years  since,  and  on  turning  them  out  pf 
their  pots  the  crocks  fell  from  the  bottom  of  their  balls  as  clean  as  the 
day  they  were  put  in.  The  roots  of  these  plants  were  in  the  most  perfect 
health,  ready  for  increased  feeding  ground.  In  the  case  of  others,  which 
had  a  few  large  pieces  of  crocks  pitched  carelessly  into  their  pots,  the 
passage  for  water  was  next  to  entirely  filled  up  by  the  soil  working  down 
among  the  crocks  to  the  bottom  of  the  [)ots.  The  consequence  was  that 
half  the  ball  stuck  in  the  pot,  and  it  wms  a  soured  mass  of  peat,  in  which 
the  roots  had  perished,  if  ever  they  had  entered  it  at  all.  8uch  crocking 
in  conjunction  with  old  unwashed  pots  is  in  time  certain  death  to  plants, 
if  the  evil  is  not  put  right. — T.  D. 
GARDEXERS’  CHARITABLE  AXD  PROVIDEXT 
INSTITUTIONS. 
The  Gardeners’  Royal  Benevolent  Institution. — Secretary^ 
Mr.  G.  .1.  Ingram,  50,  Parliament  Street,  London,  'W.C. 
United  Horticultural  Benefit  and  Provident  Society.  — 
Secretary,  jMr.  W.  Collins,  9,  Martindale  Road,  Balham,  London,  S.W. 
Royal  Gardeners’  Orphan  Fund. — Secretary,  Mr.  A.  F.  Barron, 
The  Royal  Gardeners’  Orphan  Fund,  Chiswick,  W. 
